Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

Wow. What a quick read. I sat down and just plowed through this book in a couple of hours. The main text comes in and right around 215 pages, but there are tons of notes.

I enjoyed the connections between the historical Jesus and the religious Jesus the Christ. I have been, amateur-ly, making and effort at breaking this down myself. For me, it was helpful to have the perspective of another person, an expert, who is looking back as a Christian religious scholar. The contrast between Paul and James was something that I hadn't really understood in other texts. Also, the author's understanding of the Aramaic and the Greek language is helpful for untangling translations.

I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in the historical Jesus. I think that all of those potential readers will have explored other related historical readings already, such as a focus on what the Torah says about the messiah, what the Roman empire looked like around 100 BCE to 100 CE, and what the new testament says about Jesus. Having that foundation, this book connects the dots. The dearth of actual historic text may frustrate some folks, but I don't know what we do about this problem.

Reza Aslan was born into a Persian family and Islamic faith, but was so enamored of the story of Jesus that he converted briefly to Christianity as a teenager. He eventually returned to Islam, but remained fascinated with Jesus. His book, Zealot, is a nonfiction history that looks at the man, not through the lens of his religious/mythological importance, but rather in the context of his time and place: Israel (or rather, the Roman province of Judea) in the early Common Era.

This is not a hatchet job by a nonbeliever intent on denigrating an important figure of faith. But it will challenge some of the fundamental facts Christians take for granted. For example, Jesus' birth. According to Aslan's research, what the Bible states about a census compelling all to return to the cities of their father's birth (leading Jesus to be born in Bethlehem), would have been completely anomalous among the many Roman censuses. While that doesn't necessarily mean it's not true, it does mean that it is much, much more likely that Jesus was both born and raised in Nazareth. He also places Jesus into context as one of many self-annointed Kings of the Jews in the area at the time, and far from the only one that was crucified by Rome for such a crime.

As an agnostic/atheist with a Christian background, I found the book fascinating. This is my first time reading a history of this time period, but Aslan's research seems well-grounded. His writing doesn't come across like an attempt to debunk the Christian religion (indeed, he usually states that the most faith-based aspects of Jesus's life are unknowable by historical accounts), but rather asks the reader to think about the world in which Jesus, whether he was just a man or a prophet or divine, actually lived. For my money, more critical thinking is always a good thing.

I suspect that if one is a Christian believer, this book would not be well received. It would, nonetheless, be worth reading, because it suggests an alternative view of Jesus–the historical Jesus–that is both rooted in research and logic. It's also very informative. For example, I knew nothing about the early Church and certainly nothing about the conflict between James (about whom I was only vaguely aware anyway) and Paul. Fascinating stuff.

I am not sure what Reza Aslan set out to do when he wrote Zealot, but whatever it may have been, he sure succeeded in getting exposure. This is what sits with me the entire time as I read the book: that this was a tome not meant to elucidate, but provoke. And that, inherently, is its biggest failing. It is a fascinating read because of the way Aslan weaves a story, but it is a vacuous one because it does not have a convincing argument. Nonetheless, it entertains—and I never thought I'd say that about a book about a religious figure.

(originally published on inthemargins.ca)